


Blue Lights

by HappyLeech



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: (It's major enough for me to tick the archive warning box though), Gen, Temporary Character Death, alien bullshit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyLeech/pseuds/HappyLeech
Summary: Kepler does something. Daniel deals with the fallout.





	1. Chapter 1

Daniel is next to Kepler and Alana while he reams out Minkowski for...something, staring into space.

It’s not like it’s a new occurrence when the Hephaestus crew fucks up, especially when the next day cycle will be no different, so his mind wanders.

And when Kepler stops talking in the middle of a sentence and tilts his head to the side, Daniel doesn’t pay attention. Not until Kepler draws his weapon and shoots, not until the screaming starts. 

Hera cries out in horror, her systems starting to flicker and glitch, and Maxwell takes control from her with shaking hands before she can do something reckless. Minkowski has her cuffed hands up in front of her mouth, shocked still, no longer the picture of calm defiance. Hilbert is cursing in Russian, and the little Daniel knows tells him that he’s saying nothing nice. Lovelace rushes Kepler, and Daniel moves between them, lucky that the Captain is off balance enough for him to hold back. 

Eiffel doesn’t do much of anything. Not anymore, at least.

“There, maybe now you’ll understand how serious I am about this mission,” Kepler says calmly, holstering his weapon. “Mr. Jacobi will be taking over duties as communications officer, and Lieutenant Minkowski will be spending the next week in the brig where she will hopefully learn that her actions have consequences. Any objections?”

No one speaks up, although Daniel wants to. He knows the basics, enough that he was able to communicate with the Hephaestus while they were approaching, but not as much as Eiffel does.

Did. As Eiffel _ did _ .

Kepler smiles. “That’s what I thought. Mr. Jacobi, could you take the Lieutenant to her new quarters? And Captain Lovelace, if you wouldn’t mind, would you clean all of this up?”

“Of course, Sir,” Daniel says, letting go of Lovelace’s arms to take Minkowski’s. “Let’s go.”

* * *

By the time he heads back to the junction where the Hephaestus meets the Urania, Lovelace has cleaned up most of the mess and everyone but Hilbert has dispersed. 

“What do you want?” she hisses when she notices him, her eyes red and watery.

“Nothing, just passing through,” Daniel replies quickly as he turns away. Alana’s probably in the Hephaestus bridge, trying to calm and control Hera, and Hilbert shoots him a glare as he moves past.

_ ‘It’s just work _ ,’ he reminds himself as he floats through the halls.  _ ‘Just like any other job, there’s no reason for me to be weird about it. _ ’

Alana has three computers set up and running when Daniel enters the bridge, and she gives him a look of complete despair. “Hera’s fighting me,” she tells him as she inputs another string of control code. “I’ve had to disable three different attempts to manipulate the emergency systems so she can vent the oxygen on us.”

“Shit.”

“He’s going to make me install a dummy if I can’t calm her down, Dan.” Alana looks miserable at the thought. “I don’t want to do that.”

“ _ Shit _ .”

She looks around, behind him and down the hall. “That shouldn’t have happened,” she hisses. “Kepler shouldn’t have shot him, he wasn’t even involved-”

“I know,” Daniel interrupts. “Trust me, ‘Lana, I know. But there’s nothing we can do about it now. Do you want some help?”

“I think I’ll be okay, Dan. You should probably go check out the comms room, get used to the space.”

* * *

It’s a small room. 

There’s more equipment in it than most of the Hephaestus, and Daniel only knows how to operate a fraction of it. So instead he searches it for all the personal effects of a dead man.

Three loose cigarettes lodged behind a panel. A half-empty water bottle. A sheaf of paper filled with doodles and notes and ‘ _ top 10 _ ’ lists. Gum wrappers. A beat-up old copy of Good Omens. A family photo.

“Huh...Didn’t know he had a kid,” Daniel mutters, flipping the picture over.  _ ‘August 2012- Anne and Papa _ ’ is written on the back. “Recently too…”

It’s not the first person with a kid that he’s seen die, it’s not even the first person with a kid that SI-5’s  _ killed _ . But it feels strange to be in Eiffel’s space, holding a picture of him and his daughter, and knowing that he isn’t going to make it home. 

Not that Goddard intended any of the crew on the Hephaestus to return to Earth, but Daniel always found it easier if he didn’t know much of anything about the people he was killing. 

Killing a man for corporate espionage was always easier when you didn’t know that he had a wife or a kid or even a dog.

He gathers everything into a box, the photo and gum wrappers included, takes everything Eiffel and places it in Minkowski’s quarters. Somehow, he figures that she’s the best person to hold onto it, even if she is in the brig. 

Back in the comms room, he looks around at the suddenly bare consoles. 

“Okay, Daniel. Let’s see how hard this is to work.”

* * *

As it turns out, the equipment is  _ hellishly _ hard to operate. Alana manages to calm Hera down enough that she isn’t actively trying to kill anyone, and the AI gives him a clipped run-down of the functions the next day.

He’s thankful for it, seeing as Kepler wants him to get results, get transmissions,  _ get contact _ , all without regard for the fact that Daniel  _ doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing _ .

“You could just go and throw yourself out the nearest airlock,” Hera suggests cheerfully as Daniel groans, his head resting on his arms as he gets nothing but static and a red beeping light.

“Trust me, I’m debating doing just that,” he replies, voice muffled. “That is, if the Colonel doesn’t do it first.”

She snorts, something so  _ human _ for a computer, and Daniel wonders if she’s always been like that or if Alana expanded her programming. “You? Please, he’s your boss; he isn’t going to hurt you.”

“You haven’t seen him in a  _ real _ mood,” Daniel says. “You guys weren’t the only people to get the whiskey talk, you know.”

“The one about holding it in his hand?” Hera asks, and this time Daniel snorts. 

“Yeah, that’s the one.” He pushes himself back up and cracks his knuckles. “Okay, one more try.”

* * *

It’s three cycles later when the star flairs. 

The station rocks and shudders as the radiation and solar winds slam into the station, and Daniel finds himself neatly trapped in the comms. 

“Mr. Jacobi!” Kepler shouts over the fuzzy, static filled comms. “Get to engineering!”

“I would love to, Sir,” Daniel shouts back. “But I’m a little trapped right now!” 

Between the locker of replacement radio parts that’s fallen on his side of the door and whatever is obstructing it from the outside, he isn’t moving.

Then one of the consoles behind him turns on.

“Hello,” says a voice that shouldn’t be, and Daniel looks at the lit panel like it’s about to bite him. “Hephaestus Station, do you copy? This is Communications Officer Douglas Eiffel, do you read me?”

“Well, Mr. Jacobi, aren’t you going to answer?” Kepler snaps after a few seconds of dead air, because of course the aliens are broadcasting all throughout the station, and he moves towards the microphone.

“This is the Hephaestus Station,” Daniel answers finally. 

“Who are you?” the voice who isn’t Eiffel asks.

“Daniel Jacobi.” There is no doctor or officer or rank to affix to his name, and it shouldn’t bother him as much as it does. 

There is more silence, then the radio crackles back to life. “Where is Officer Eiffel? We are used to speaking with him.”

Daniel laughs, shakes his head.  _ Of course  _ the aliens want to talk to Eiffel. “He’s dead.”

“What is...dead?” the aliens ask.

How can he describe dead? “It means he isn’t...living anymore? He’s gone? Not breathing, no vital signs...uh-” God, he wishes that Hera could help with the explanation, but she’s busy trying to keep them from being torn apart by whatever the star is doing. “Do you have like...when something or someone ceases to be?”

“We do not. But we think we understand what you mean.” the aliens reply. “Do you want him back?”

Kepler butts in over the comms, the static nearly unbearable. “Absolutely not- Mr. Jacobi, you are to tell them no. We don’t want another debacle like your doppelganger.”

“Like hell you’ll say no!” a voice says through Kepler’s communicator. “Jacobi, you tell them yes!” Lovelace says, swearing as Kepler shoves her away and the line goes dead.

“Dan…” Alana is the next to contact him, whispering like she doesn’t want someone to overhear what she’s about to say. “Kepler said to say no, but...it would make all of our lives easier and I really think the Colonel fucked up when he shot Eiffel. Bring him back.”

“Bring him back,” Once Alana goes quiet Minkowski breaks in, out of her confinement to help keep them all alive, the only words she’s said to him since everything happened.

Hilbert also hasn’t spoken to anyone except for Lovelace since the incident, but he hails Daniel as well. “Tell them yes.”

Hera is last to speak, the station either safe enough or she’s taking the power keeping them alive to ask for her friend back. “I know that you have to follow your orders, but...I miss Eiffel. He was my best friend. He didn’t make me feel alone.”

Daniel feels shaky. 

He doesn’t  _ want _ this to be his decision. Killing people, being the one to decide if someone needs a bullet in the brain or to die via two tons of explosives is one thing...he’s never had to  _ bring someone back _ . 

Does he listen to Kepler and face the wrath of literally everyone else on the station, or does he disobey and become the next corpse someone has to clean up?

“Please,” Hera says softly, then breaks communication. The radio behind him crackles back to life.

“Have you made your decision?” The aliens ask.

“We’ll take him,” Daniel replies, and Kepler  _ roars _ in his ears, snarling out threats and promises of discipline until Hera shuts down the intercom in the comms room. Daniel barely notices when the ranting fades, because he isn’t the only one in the room anymore.

Eiffel is floating there with him, eyes and hands glowing a soft blue, and Daniel holds his ground when he turns to him, opens his mouth to speak...and promptly passes out.

The intercom returns to life long enough for Daniel to hear the end of one of Kepler’s threats, but when Hera whispers “Thank you”, the threats don’t seem so bad.

* * *

It takes an hour and forty-five minutes to get Daniel and Eiffel out of the comms room. Lovelace pulls away a shelf of some sort away from the outside, along with the door, and helps Daniel drag the locker inside out of the way. He’s barely out of the room when Kepler grabs him and slams him up against the wall.

“You disobeyed a direct order, Mr. Jacobi,” he snarls, and over his shoulder Daniel can see Alana stop in her tracks, eyes wide as Minkowski and Hilbert help an unconscious Eiffel out of the room.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t a very good order,” Daniel replies, grimacing. “Besides, I’m sure the aliens and the rest of the people on this station would riot if I said no.” He pauses. “ _ Sir _ .”

Kepler’s fingers dig into his shoulder, and it’s only when Alana speaks up that Daniel finds himself able to breath. “Colonel Kepler, Sir?”

“Yes, Dr. Maxwell?” he says in a voice that makes even Lovelace move a little further away from them.

Alana steels herself, avoiding Daniel’s eyes and focusing on a point above Kepler’s shoulder when he turns to face her. “The station is now in need of repairs and while I know Mr. Jacobi ignored your last order, we do need him to assist repairs and to continue working the comms equipment...depending on what happens with Officer Eiffel.”

Kepler stares at her for a long, long minute, before he nods. “Lieutenant Minkowski, it seems that you’ll be sharing your quarters in the brig with Mr. Jacobi for the time being. I trust that won’t be an issue?”

“No.”

* * *

After a quick breakdown of what needs fixing on the station, they determine that they don't need Daniel's help right away. Kepler does his best to physically throw him into the brig, and he lets himself float, looking out at the star. The station is stable enough that they don’t need his help, that he’s really floating somewhere between Kepler shooting him for insubordination and Kepler spacing him for insubordination. 

By the time Minkowski is locked in the room with him, he's dozing, opening one eye and waving lazily.  


“Bet you’re regretting what you did,” she says after a few moments, floating below him, keeping watch like him being there is a trick. Daniel shrugs.

“The Colonel might think so. Could have turned out worse, though.”

“Oh?” She cocks her head to the side.

“Yeah. I could have said no to the aliens.”


	2. Chapter 2

Six cycles pass before Kepler speaks to Daniel again. 

Minkowski and Daniel talk about anything instead, to keep the silence from becoming awkward and more uncomfortable than it already was. She sings every song she learned for every musical she ever did and he does a half-assed job of joining in for the ones he knows. He tells her stories about some of the less horrifying jobs he’s done, and she surprises him when she recognizes names and locations. 

In one memorable moment Minkowski completely surprises him by bursting into laughter and informing him that her husband would probably like to shake his hand after he mentions an assassination of a particularaly vile politian.

“You keep up to date with European politics?” Daniel asks for the lack of anything else, and Minkowski shrugs. 

“Dom is an investigative reporter and I’m originally from Poland. We keep up to date with a lot of stuff, not just politics,” she says. “We met in Paris.”

“Now, if that isn’t a city I’d pay money to never return to,” Daniel mutters. “I had the worst time, last time we were in France. Just a tip- don’t get arrested there.”

Minkowski snorts. “A little late for that,” she says with a grin. "That's where we met."

"No!" He shouldn't be having as much fun as he is, gossiping with her, but it's hard to see the straitlaced Lieutenant in jail, never mind meeting her husband there. “Speaking of… he’s hot- no wonder you fell for him.”

Minkowski looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “Do you...are you saying that you think my husband is hot? How do you even know anything about him?”

Daniel shrugs. “We got files on all of you. They didn’t list everything, but they did have family members and stuff. If I wasn’t already gay…” Minkowski starts laughing, thankfully, and he grins. He didn’t need a black eye. “And you said he’s a journalist?”

“Investigative, yes. For the Times…" she trails off. "They've told everyone we died, haven't they."

Daniel nods. He and Alana weren’t involved with reporting their deaths, but Kepler had been, and he remembers the minor outrage that had come from the news.

She looks down at her hands, fidgeting. “I...don’t actually know why I’m asking you about it, but...I know Dominik wouldn’t just let things rest. Would he be in any danger?”

Yes.

“I don’t know. Depends on if Cutter thinks he’s a real threat to the company and how public he is.” Daniel hesitates for a second. He shouldn’t really be getting too friendly with the Hephaestus crew, but for all he knows Kepler’s placed him among them. “It’s worse to lose hope, so he’s probably fine.”

She shoots him a confused look before changing the subject. “So, how did you get arrested in France?”

* * *

The day before Kepler comes to him, Minkowski’s let out. Daniel waves as she exits the room, and once the door slams shut he closes his eyes and lets himself drift. Does it matter that he’s let Minkowski see so much of him when he’s sure that the Colonel is going to space him the next chance he has?

“Still not allowed to say anything about what’s been happening?” he asks Hera, not expecting much of a change.

“N-no.”

“Eh, it was worth checking.”

* * *

“Mister Jacobi.”

“Colonel Kepler.”

Daniel shoves his hands in his pockets so he doesnt start to fidget.

“Since you disobeyed direct orders,” Kepler says, voice honey-smooth and full of promises of harm, “Officer Eiffel is to be under your...direct supervision. Anything goes wrong and it will be you taking the punishment, Mister Jacobi. Do  _ not  _ disappoint me again.”

“Sir-” Daniel starts, part agreement and part objection, but one look from Kepler shuts him up. “Where can I find Officer Eiffel now?”

“Where he belongs- the Communications Room. Dismissed.”

* * *

Daniel doesn’t even get a chance to see Alana before he ends up in the Comms room, now cramped with two of them in there. 

“You moved all my stuff!” is the first thing Eiffel says, and Daniel rolls his eyes.

“Minkowski has it. You’re welcome, by the way,” he replies as he pulls his legs up to sit cross legged. “I can’t believe I’ve been demoted to babysitter.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t listen to Kepler and told the Listeners to bring me back,” Eiffel is fiddling with dials that Daniel didn’t even _ touch _ , and he knows he made the right decision.

“Well, I couldn’t have Hera cry,” he replies. “Pretty sure that’s worse that Kepler in a mood.” Daniel pauses then. “What do you remember? I’ve been in the brig for the last little while.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Kepler shot me? And then I woke up in the medical bay with Hilbert. Hera kinda filled in the blanks though.” he leans forwards and speaks into the microphone, broadcasting out. “Hello, Dear Listeners- This is E.T, phoning home.”

Daniel has to laugh at that, and Eiffel grins through the static reply.

* * *

Kepler hasn’t decided that Daniel needs to share a bunk with Eiffel, yet, so he sits with Alana. She’s doing some soldering, trying to find the cause of Hera’s stutter in her downtime, and it’s nice to just sit with her.

"The Colonel keeps talking about treason and betrayal and insubordination," she says, and Daniel shrugs. 

"There isn't much that I can do about it now."

Alana turns to him. "Could you pretend to take this seriously? If he kills you, I--" she looks down and away. Daniel hugs her.

"I'll be fine, 'lana. Besides, even if he does shoot me, the aliens can bring me back. Daniel Jacobi, 3.0."

"Don't say that!" She hisses. "I'm really worried about you, Dan."

"I know, I know. But I mean what I said- I don't think there's anything that I can do or say to fix this now. As far as the Colonel's concerned, I'm no better than the Hephaestus crew at this point." He sighed. "I'll just have to see if I can be good enough to survive the mission."

* * *

As he expects, Kepler "requests" that Daniel keep an eye on Eiffel at all times, and moves him out of the Urania and into the Hephaestus.

"Now I'm really slumming it," he mutters, sitting in Eiffel's room, the bunk technically for four people and now holding two. 

"What? You mean you didn't decide to stay here for my stunning personality?" Eiffel asks, already in his sleeping sack. 

"I woke up the other day and thought to myself, " _ Daniel, you don't listen to Eiffel make pop culture references enough. Move in with him _ ."," Daniel replies, even though the number of references and comments have been almost non-existent since...the incident.

"Ehhh…" Eiffel shrugs. "I don't think the Listeners copied that entire part of me over. Like, I know that " _ we're going to need a bigger boat!" _ is Jaws, but what _ is _ Jaws, exactly?"

"You...this might actually be tolerable now," Daniel says, laughing and ignoring the almost hurt look Eiffel shoots him. "Jaws is a movie about a shark- I haven't watched it, so that's all I really know."

"We'll have to watch it when we're back on Earth," Eiffel says with a yawn.

"What. Did you just say that  _ we _ would have to watch it?" Daniel asks, and Eiffel ducks his head down into the sleeping sack and scoffs.

"Me and Hera,  _ obviously _ ." 

* * *

As the day and night cycles began to run together, Daniel realizes that he’s spending more and more time with Eiffel and almost none with Alana. He's ranting about it in the Comms room, listening to the sweet, annoying song of static, when Hera interrupts.

"C-colonel Kepler told her not to talk to you," she says, and whatever Daniel was going to say sticks in his throat. "She's been avoiding you so she doesn't have to not talk to you."

"Oh, I'm going to kick his ass," Daniel finally mutters, crossing his arms and scowling. 

"You and Dr. Fankinstine are close?" Eiffel asks cautiously, and Daniel sighs.

"Alana is  _ basically  _ my sister. Hera, can you tell her that I'm one hundred percent sobbing right now?"

"No."

"Damnit, I thought we weren't mortal enemies anymore. Can't you at least try to make her feel bad? For me?"

"I'll tell her that-that you're weeping bitterly at the betrayal," she finally says, not realizing how close she actually was. 

* * *

Daniel knows his taste in men is...subpar. The number of cult members he's dated in the past is unfortunately more than  _ one _ . The only reason he called the number on the card Kepler gave him was because he was  _ hot _ . And he's still surprised when he realizes that maybe he kinda likes professional dumbass Officer Eiffel.

"Is Alana free?" He asks Hera the minute he realizes, because he needs to scream at someone and despite the fact that Eiffel and Hera and, surprisingly, Minkowski seem to be okay with him, he's not going to have a mental break at them. Especially not when the target of said break was one of the ones mentioned. 

"Doctor Maxw-well isn't supposed to talk to you," Hera replies. "But there's a supply room that my connection is a little spotty…"

"Forget Eiffel, I love you," he mutters, then makes a face. Hopefully Hera didn't hear. "Thanks Hera."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"Alana, 'lana, shoot me," Daniel says when Alana comes into the room, and she groans. 

" _ No _ , Eiffel? Really? Are you kidding me?" She says, even as she drags him into a hug. "Your taste in men is horrible, Dan."

He groans into her shoulder. Married, straight, cultist, transphobes,  _ his bosses _ . 

"What are you going to do?" She asks after a few minutes, and he makes a face.

"Ignore it? He has a  _ kid _ , he's bound to be hetero. I've made _ that _ mistake enough times."

" _ Horrible _ taste in men. They're up to something."

Daniel shrugs. "I'm not surprised. I don't know shit, though. About what they're planning or what you and Kepler are planning."

Now Alana makes the face. "I have no idea what the Colonel is doing either. I guess we'll find out when it bites us in the ass, won't we."

* * *

"Hera, am I locked in the Comms room?" Daniel asks, and he knows that whatever the Hephaestus crew has been planning has come to fruition. 

"Yep!" She replies cheerily, and Daniel sighs.

"I'm not allowed out, am I."

"Nope!"

Daniel sighs, again, and goes back to fiddling with the dials Eiffel has “allowed” him to fiddle with. Still nothing but static. "So, what's the plan? Going to yeet me out the nearest airlock when this is all over and done?" He asks, marking off another station as dead for the moment and moving to the next.

"... _ what _ you?"

"Yeet. The act of being hurled at a high speed, the opposite of being yoinked. To be yeeten…" he trails off. "I was going to ask why Eiffel hasn't used it, but it really was popular after you all came up. Anyways, let me know before you off me so I don't get blood on this notebook."

"Both the Lieutenant and Officer Eiffel have vouched for you, so we're going to try and keep it non-violent."

"I can tell you right now that Colonel Kepler probably won't, so I hope you have a plan B. I doubt you could use me as a hostage so plan C, maybe. And I'll kill all of you if anything happens to Alana, so maybe skip plans D to H."

"Oh, calm down J-Jacobi. It'll be  _ fine _ ."

* * *

Things where  _ not _ fine.

Between Alana getting shot in the shoulder- what the hell, Minkowski- and Kepler shooting Lovelace- what the  _ hell _ , Colonel- the.mutiny on the Hephaestus hadn't really gone according to plan. With Daniel out of the picture, both locked away and lower than dirt in Kepler's opinion, and Alana in Minkowski's hands, he had "surrendered", though Daniel knew it was a ruse- he was just biding his time until he could counter-coup.

"Its- I'm  _ fine _ , Daniel," Alana said as he frantically checked her over, like there was something they'd  _ missed. _

"You were very nearly  _ not _ ," he snapped, in the Brig with her and Kepler. Daniel was starting to get sick of the place. He did understand why he was there, though- had everything been a ploy to gain the Hephaestus crew's trust? If Kepler asked, would he drop everything to help him take back the station? 

"You just don't want to focus on what the aliens said," she teases softly, and Daniel  _ does not _ flush, damnit. Fucking aliens.

"Fucking aliens."

"Is that fucking aliens or  _ fucking _ aliens?" On the other side of the room Kepler looks up from nursing his stump and frowns, but Alana ignores him. "So they were talking Officer Eiffel style gibberish, but I know I can figure it out. It's like language mapping in an AI."

"But…?"

"But I need to hear what they said again, and I'm sure Hera has a file but she's not allowed to talk to me, and I need a piece of paper and a pan so I can try and take the references and buffy-isims and translate them to common words and phrases."

Daniel elbows her carefully- she's still injured. "I'm sure if you ask Minkowski, she'll get that for you. She might have shot you, but at least she's  _ reasonable _ ."

* * *

Alana is right, Daniel discovers that night when he can't sleep because he's busy thinking about fucking aliens. 

He shakes his head, rattling the words around in his skull, and scowls. 

_ "Officer Douglas Eiffel has a "thing" for you, but has no object to give." _

Part of him likes this new development, the part of him who looked at the greasy idiot that was Doug Eiffel and said "hot", but the other part of him, who wants to survive to go home and get one last beer in before Kepler shoots him, doesn't. This threatens his ability to get back into the Colonels good graces.

...but does he even want to get back into his good graces? 

Sure, maybe if this was any other mission the answer would be  _ yes _ , but he's been shooting people almost at random and let Minkowski and  _ Hilbert _ take control from him, even though he still had a hostage. 

What the Kepler he followed into space the same as the one he said he'd follow into space?

Daniel's starting to like the look of throwing his lot in with the Hephaestus crew.

* * *

“Mister Jacobi, I need to you—” Kepler pulls him aside on the Urania, starts speaking, and Daniel snorts. “Is something...funny?”

“No, sorry, please continue,” he replies.

“You have freedoms Doctor Maxwell and I have not been afforded. I need you to gather us weapons.” He continues to speak but Daniel tunes him out. Does he really think it’s that simple anymore?

Daniel wonders if he should feel bad, relaying Kepler’s request to Minkowski, but if it keeps Alana safe he’ll do anything. 

* * *

“I figured it out!” Alana shouts, and everyone turns to her, from Minkowski to Kepler. “I know what they want...kind of.”

“Which is…?” Lovelace asks, and her grin falters. 

“Daniel. They want Daniel to go over the red line.” She frowns. “I don’t know why, but they want him to go into the star.”

“No. No fucking way. I’m not doing that,” Daniel snaps.

* * *

“I hate all of you,” he hisses through the comms, O2 levels still optimal as he drifts further from the Hephaestus and closer to the star. “I hope the alien version of me that gets sent back is just as evil as Kepler thinks Eiffel and Lovelace are. I hope he kills you all in your sleep.”

“Oh, s— a melodramat— sterd,” Lovelace barely comes through, and Daniel sniffs back tears.

“I don’t want to die here,” he says to an all familiar static noise, as Wolf 359 draws him in.

* * *

Music. 

Eiffel’s Listeners wanted  _ music _ , music and the alphabet and to pick Daniel’s brain for meanings and words and phrases. 

“We understand now,” not-Eiffel says. “Dead. Thank you.”

“You’re...welcome?” Daniel replies, and wonders how much of Goddard they’ve managed to integrate. “And, uh, sorry too. You probably would have wanted someone else, huh.”

“We chose you, Daniel Jacobi,” not-Eiffel says and then there’s a rushing noise, a feeling like he’s being pulled into taffy, and he’s floating his way back towards the Hephaestus.

There’s another ship docked to the Urania, and Daniel doesn’t know it, but he knows that it’s bad news. “Jacobi to the Hephaestus, do you copy?” he radios as he moves closer, to no reply.

A pit forms in his stomach that grows as he moves closer to the station, and hits critical mass when he steps through the second seal in the airlock and finds himself face to face with Mr. Cutter. 

"Sir!" Daniel isn't sure what his face was doing, but it makes Cutter laugh as he slings an arm around his shoulder.

"Daniel, you know, we've been looking for you! Now, Dougie said that you went into the star, but that cant be true…"

"I can give you my full report, Mr. Cutter," Daniel tells him, because he might not be scared of Kepler or Minkowski or even the aliens anymore, but Cutter terrifies him. "But could I have a few minutes? I need a drink and to use the, uh, facilities."

* * *

Daniel finds himself on the Sol, jiggling his foot as he waits for Alana to come back with a glass of water, and tries not to look at Cutter, Pryce, Kepler, or Reimann. 

He is going to tear Kepler's throat out for letting them...control Alana like they were.

"So, you're saying that you made  _ physical _ contact?" Cutter says, leaning in, and Daniel nods. 

"Yes. They wanted my assistance with English- the alphabet, numbers, explanations of concepts that were unfamiliar to them."

"What kinds of concepts?" Pryce asks.

"Death was a big one. They didn't understand it. Music as well, and--" Daniel scrambles for the first thing to pop into his head. "--dentists. They, I guess, have a lot of similar things and concepts, but those three they didn't know at all."

"And how did you explain them?" Cutter asks leaning in close, and Daniel tries to keep himself steady. Where was the water he was promised?

"Kind of… like the one I met with went rifling through my head. It was...I'd rather not do it again, it felt like having a migraine and a head cold at the same time, I guess?" Like someone went at his brain with an egg beater and then drained it out his sinuses. 

"And did they give you anything in return?" Pryce asks, and Daniel shakes his head. 

"Not really. A headache, mostly." He hesitates. "Why?"

* * *

He does as he's told. He does his work with a smile. He loves his job. 

There is nothing wrong.

* * *

There was  _ so much _ that was wrong, Daniel didn't know what to focus on first. 

"Alana, what--?" He hisses in one of the Sol's closets, and she shushed him.

"The machine didn't work on Lovelace or your boyfriend," she says. "I don't know which of then stuck me, but their blood was enough to break the control. We have to get to Minkowski quickly before they kill her like Hilbert."

"Shit."

* * *

Rachel Young leaves, laughing, and Daniel stares at Kepler.

' _ Prove that you're a decent human being,' _ Daniel thinks, and doesn't know if he really should be disappointed when Kepler turns to follow her out.

* * *

_ "I won't let you hurt Daniel," a teenaged girl says, and Pryce laughs. _

_ "And who are you to try and stop me?" She asks, snorting as the girl disappears. "Now, what is Silent Hill, and why does it take up so much of Jacobi's brainscape?" _

* * *

Daniel floats, leaning up against Alana as the Sol slowly makes it's way back to Earth. Between Minkowski and her gunshot wound and the fight that both Eiffel and Lovelace had against the psywave regulator, the pair of them are the most lively ones in the ship, which is a surprise considering Alana had the shit beat out of her by Reimann.

And yet Daniel still feels drained.

"So, when are you going to ask him out?" Alana asks after an hour of silence, and Daniel starts to swear.

"Fuck off, never. I wouldn't be surprised if they all want nothing to do with us once we get back Earthside."

"I d-don't know about that," Hera says, and Daniel groans.

"Leave me to wallow, please," he whines, turning into Alana's shoulder. 

"I will literally die if the trip back to Earth is spent dealing with your pining ass. You're going to kill me, your sister. Is that what you want?"

"Fine! I'll talk to him,  _ fuck _ ."

* * *

Eiffel finds him first, standing awkwardly in the door of the comms room. "So apparently I need to talk to you?"

Daniel groans. "Fucking Alana. Fucking  _ Hera." _

"And Minkowski, and Lovelace," Eiffel adds. "Uh, so--"

"You have a "thing" for me, huh?" Daniel interrupts, and Eiffel scowls. 

"The Dear Listeners are snitches and I hate them."

"Aren't you technically a Dear Listener?" Daniel points out, and Eiffel groans.

" _ Look _ . Fuck you."

"Take me on a date first," Daniel replies. "I heard that Jaws is supposed to be good."

"A-alana said your first date isn't allowed to be torrenting a three decade old movie," Hera said. 

"Alana can bite me in the ass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every single Daniel Jacobi is related to Trustfall (Silent Hill is just a Good Backstory and I will not be stopped)  
> Also can you tell that I didn't know how to end this? rip

**Author's Note:**

> The google doc for this is titled 'I did an angst' because...well, it's me.
> 
> * * *
> 
> * Kepler dun fucked up  
> * RIP Eiffel.  
> * I figure that Wolf has a different day and night cycle? maybe a little longer, maybe a little shorter, I haven't decided yet  
> * Let Jacobi be friends with Hera  
> * imo Eiffel is the glue that keeps everyone functioning. He's the Listeners favourite, close to Hera and the rest of the Hephaestus Crew... Him's important  
> * This was going to be a oneshot and then I realized how big it was going to be, just with the premise, so now it's at least a 2 parter.
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Wolf 359 Tumblr](https://textsfromtheusshephaestus.tumblr.com/)


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